Another departure for a pointless thought about beauty...

King Henry VIII after loosing the fragile and somewhat sickly Jane Seymour due to the birth of his son Edward, had one of his trusted advisors arrange a marriage for him with a girl from a fine German family. Prior to consenting to the marriage, Henry was shown a portrait of the young lady. Being pleased with what he saw he agreed. Ann of Cleaves was brought to Court and presented to him. What he saw both appalled and shocked him. This was not the slim, docile, beauty he expected. Ann was at least six feet tall, had large protruding front teeth and pock marks on every visible patch of skin. Needless to say the marriage was never consummated. It was also of short duration. Ann of Cleaves is my favorite of the six wives of Henry VIII. She was virtuous, compassionate and above all exceptionally bright. During their brief union, Henry came to admire and respect her greatly. He even consulted with her on several important matters of state. But so repulsed was he by her physical appearance that he soon had her dismissed, and focused his attention on the infantile, pink lipped Catherine Howard. Who by all accounts appears to be utterly puerile, rampant and entirely void of all common sense. She was impudent enough to engage in an illicit affair with an obscure youth, only to have her head lopped of for it. And Quite rightly, such stupidity should never go unpunished. This scenario makes us ask ourselves several important questions. Why would Henry choose stupidity over intelligence? Why would he embrace reckless behavior over cautious competence? Clearly Ann would have been a far superior queen. They were obviously able to communicate on a some what harmonious level. He enjoyed her company, he valued her opinion and she respected and revered his position. What more could a man of extreme eminence ask for? What more indeed!
Why would Henry so eagerly and blindly invite chaos? Beauty. Beauty was to blame. In her sly way, beauty is to blame for many things. Because the value of beauty has gone up considerably within the last century, the exchange rate with other currencies such as decency, cleverness, integrity, virtue, humor, benevolence, humility and so on have become depressingly valueless. That is not to say that people in general reject these qualities. Many expect their beautiful partners to embody them all! “Please! Have the courtesy to be the complete package!” They cry! The more beautiful you are the easier it is to be forgiven for these minor inadequacies. I have only met one person in the course of my life that exemplified all these assents. My mother. In her quiet unpretentious way she was the ideal woman. Her near perfection was effortless. She spent very little time focusing on any one particular attribute. I find when one concentrates unduly in one area, their other areas become enfeebled. For instance, have you ever met someone who spends twelve to fifteen hours a week at the gym? These people are awfully difficult to talk to. And not only because they are endlessly being distracted by their reflections but because they release so many more endorphins than the average person.. This release makes them, I believe thirty to forty percent happier than the rest of us. They rarely experience a healthy depression. I find their conversation much like having a dry mouth and only being given uncooked cream o’wheat to drink. Their excessive workouts have made them blissfully one dimensional.
The question still remains as to why a person of intellect and substance would want a foolish partner? Hmmm…could it be for the same reason that we eat junk food? We know it’s bad for us. We know it raises our cholesterol levels, clogs our arteries, makes us fat and decays our teeth. Whereas wholesome food although less instantly satisfying builds up the body and generates energy for action, both physical and mental. One can only come to appreciate the worth of nutritious food after a lengthy period consumption. Why is it so hard to resist those things that are so damaging to our health and well being? I think it is due to the handsome way they are packaged and presented For the same reason our taste buds prefer refined sugar, MSG and carbonation, our eyes enjoy a pleasing visage, silken hair and straight, gleaming teeth. But how does one identity the healthy from the unhealthy? I believe it can be easily accomplished if one uses common sense. Moderation. Allow me to put it to you this way, you can’t presume to eat a dozen assorted Krispy Kream donuts four times a week and expect to maintain your current weight. So it is with the ingestion of exorbitant amounts of physical beauty. I suggest avoiding it. Not completely, perhaps only indulge on special occasions. Try not to make beauty a part of your every day life or diet, it simply isn’t healthy.